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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26876062">The Starting Line</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplebass/pseuds/purplebass'>purplebass</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Last Hours Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - Cassandra Clare</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 19:55:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,360</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26876062</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/purplebass/pseuds/purplebass</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucie clutched her phone to her chest and grinned. She said yes. And she couldn’t be happier. Her smile turned into a frown when she realized what she had done. She had accepted. She had agreed on going on a date with him. </p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Jesse Blackthorn &amp; Lucie Herondale, Jesse Blackthorn/Lucie Herondale</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Blackdale</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Starting Line</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Lucie clutched her phone to her chest and grinned. She said </span>
  <em>
    <span>yes</span>
  </em>
  <span>. And she couldn’t be happier. Her smile turned into a frown when she realized what she had done. She had accepted. She had agreed on going on a date with </span>
  <em>
    <span>him</span>
  </em>
  <span>.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What did you do, Lucie?” she asked herself, then sighed. Not that she didn’t want to go on a date with this guy. But it was him. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Jesse Blackthorn</span>
  </em>
  <span>. He wasn’t famous for being the quarterback of the football team nor because he played another sport. Jesse’s fame had followed him to campus because he was a gifted student. And not only that. At 20, he had already published a book that was getting good reviews.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucie had seen him on her first day, during her advanced creative writing class. As a writer herself, she was trying to get in all of the classes related to her favorite thing to do. She would have never expected to find THE Jesse there, sitting in the first row in front of the podium. It was probably a coincidence, or maybe not. After all, he was a writer too, she reminded herself.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Their eyes met, and she realized that he noticed her because he was alone in the classroom, and she was the second person to get there. Lucie’s heart quickened its pace when his forest green eyes lingered on her. She thought she probably looked like a deer caught in the headlights. The boy was obviously attractive, but what made Lucie stare was that she was going to attend this class with a promising young writer. Lucie sort of admired that he had made it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you also attending this course?” she asked him, then shook her head. “Sorry, stupid question. You’re here, of course you’re attending.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No question is ever stupid,” he replied candidly with a genuine smile. “By the way, yes. I figured that the seats would be taken if I came in a few minutes before it started... You too?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” she nodded, strangling her books in her hands. It wasn’t true, but she didn’t care. She would pretend she also decided to turn up one hour before class started for the same reason. He would never know that she was there early because she hadn’t slept at all and she feared she would be late to her first class of the semester.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She sat on a chair near him, but not too close. He followed her with his eyes, and Lucie felt her cheeks warm because she was the center of his attention. But then again, she was the only other person in that room. She looked away, trying not to stare, and put her bag on the floor. It would be long before the class would start, but she didn’t want to do anything to pass the time. In the end she decided to take her notebook out, and started scribbling something.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you also write?” she heard him ask after a few minutes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucie hoped that she didn’t look too startled and glanced at him, forgetting her female protagonist for a moment. “What?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Maybe you’re writing something else, sorry,” he quickly brushed the question off as if he had never asked it in the first place. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m writing my first novel,” she murmured. Maybe he wouldn’t be able to hear her. But she would be lying if she said she didn’t want to talk to Jesse about writing. They were in a writing class too.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What is it about?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucie frowned. “Wait, are you really interested?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you don’t want to share, that’s okay too,” he answered, a smile ever present on his face.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The only people who were interested in her writing were her father and her best friend. She lighted up at Jesse’s concern. “It starts with this girl…” Lucie started, and almost told him the entire plot if her professor hadn’t come at some point.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>From then on, every time Lucie had that class, she sat next to Jesse. Well, it was him who sat next to her. After that first encounter, Lucie imposed herself to arrive even earlier than him to class so that they could talk about writing. He gave her advice and heard about her plans for her story, but they also talked about other things. Lucie didn’t understand how it happened, but her interest and admiration for Jesse Blackthorn had turned into a full fleshed crush. Heck, maybe even more. But she never thought that he would ask her out, because despite his warm smile, she thought that he was just being kind to her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>On the day of their date, she had been the first to arrive as well. She looked at her phone to check how early she was. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Half an hour</span>
  </em>
  <span>. Jesse told her to meet in front of the Starbucks just outside of campus. She had no idea where they would go, and she opted for a casual style. A pair of jeans and a simple t-shirt with a literary quote on it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you also like Forster?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucie’s heart jumped. Her phone was about to take a tumble too, but she gripped her hold on it before it would. “Did you recognize the quote?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I also happen to like this book,” he said, his eyes warm and clear. “</span>
  <em>
    <span>We cast a shadow on something wherever we stand, and it is no good moving from place to place to save things; because the shadow always follows</span>
  </em>
  <span>,” he read out loud. “Do you agree?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That it doesn’t matter what you do, what you did will always follow you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you think this is what it means?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don’t you?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Most literature is up to interpretation, Lucie. So you decide what it means to you,” he explained. “Are you ready?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wanted to ask, </span>
  <em>
    <span>for what?</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but she only said, “yes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jesse took her to visit the oldest library in town. “Because you told me you hadn’t seen it yet, and I thought you would like it,” he said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucie told him that it didn’t matter when they went, she liked everything. But she was happy that of all the stereotypical places where he could take her - like Starbucks itself or a pub, he had decided to go there.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>She had been fascinated by the books, and decided that she would borrow some in the future so that she would have the chance to go back there. Like all good things, at some point it was time to go back. Jesse accompanied her to her dorm a couple of hours later, insisting that it was late for her to walk alone.It was already late evening, but she hadn’t felt her time pass because she enjoyed herself. Her best friend and roommate Cordelia would be waiting for her, but she would understand.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So,” Lucie started, not knowing what to say. “I had a lot of fun today,” she ended up saying.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We have a lot of things in common, Lucie,” he told her, and she thought he was going to say that </span>
  <em>
    <span>despite </span>
  </em>
  <span>liking the same things, they couldn’t be more than friends. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes,” she cut his reply off. “Sorry,” she laughed hysterically. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Way to go, Lucie.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>“No, don’t be sorry,” he giggled as well. “Say that you will go out with me again instead.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What? You want us to go on </span>
  <em>
    <span>another </span>
  </em>
  <span>date?” she asked incredulously.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s fine if you don’t want to, but… if I were to be honest, I like you. I would </span>
  <em>
    <span>love </span>
  </em>
  <span>to know you better, Lucie Herondale,” he told her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would </span>
  <em>
    <span>love </span>
  </em>
  <span>to know you better too, Jesse Blackthorn,” she nodded. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He took time to reply. “Would a kiss be too much too ask?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Lucie’s eyes widened for a moment, but she didn’t answer with words. She stood on her tiptoes to reach his face, and kissed him first. Jesse hugged her so she wouldn’t fall, and their lips danced together sweetly, tentatively. The perfect conclusion to a nice date.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The height might be a problem,” Lucie commented when they broke their connection.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“But I like </span>
  <em>
    <span>this </span>
  </em>
  <span>problem,” he said, then he lowered himself to kiss her again.</span>
</p>
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